In a surprise announcement from Clarence House this morning, it has emerged that Prince William will not leave the military next year to become a full-time working Royal.

Prince William preparing for a flying mission

He will instead leave the Army and become a full-time member of the RAF’s Air, Sea Search and Rescue team, flying Sea King helicopters.

We understand he will serve for a minimum 30-36-month period, plus 18 months of training, totalling more than four years. He will be 30 or 31 when he finally hangs up his sword.

The work will involve hazardous rescue operations, winching people to safety from cliffs, ships and open seas in all weathers.

In a statement, Prince William said, “It has been a real privilege to have spent the past year understanding and experiencing all aspects of the British Armed Forces.

“I now want to build on the experience and training I have received to serve operationally — especially because, for good reasons, I was not able to deploy to Afghanistan this year with D Squadron of the Household Cavalry Regiment. The time I spent with the RAF earlier this year made me realize how much I love flying.

“Joining Search and Rescue is a perfect opportunity for me to serve in the Forces operationally, while contributing to a vital part of the country’s emergency services.”

In the next few weeks he will become the first member of the Royal Family to train with the elite special forces regiment, the SAS. He will also spend time with the Special Boat Squadron, the sister regiment of the SAS, and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

It’s obvious that Prince William is not yet ready to resume civilian life and cut the chord with the military. Like Prince Harry he enjoys the rough and tumble of serving with the Armed Forces, but is frustrated he’s not able to join his regiment on the front lines of the two wars they are fighting.

The Air Sea Rescue mission seems an ideal — if hazardous — alternative.

The question of his marriage therefore hangs in the balance. A training period of 18 months accords with several broad hints released to the press that he won’t be marrying for that length of time.

However, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility for him to take a month’s leave from training next summer to accommodate a wedding and honeymoon.

Since Air-Sea Rescue is British-based, Kate could easily live with him in married quarters, whether in Cornwall or Scotland. In those circumstances, nobody could accuse the second-tier Wales’s of shirking their duty to the nation.

Otherwise, the prospect of a wedding mid-2010 is the next window of opportunity, with a very distant date at the end of his service as the last resort. I can’t believe Kate would be willing to wait that long.

Of course, the 18-months line may just have been spun to divert attention from a Christmas announcement.

As always, we shall have to wait and see.

Laugh of the day was when twelve barrels of lager containing 2000 pints of the amber fluid were mistakenly delivered to the Queen yesterday. They should have gone to a pub called the Windsor Castle.

Royal staff were baffled when the delivery turned up at the real Windsor Castle. Staff could find no record of the order.

Blushes were saved when a Royal protection officer twigged the problem and phoned the drinking establishment five miles away in Maidenhead.

Pub boss Misko Coric confirmed he was waiting for the beer to lubricate fans about to watch the England v. Croatia soccer match on the big screen TV. The supplies were more than three hours late and he was getting jumpy the pub would run out of beer.

The Landlord said, “[In the past} we have taken delivery of Windsor Castle headed notepaper and letters for Prince Charles — but this is the first time they had anything destined for us.”

A Royal spokesman said, “It was very funny. But there’s no way the Queen sits down in the evening with a pint.”

Where were William and Harry when they were needed?

William and Kate at Austrian wedding
Although Kate Middleton has attended two Royal weddings alone this year, it’s nearly three years since Prince William joined her.

For more than a year, the couple appear to have had a marked reluctance to be seen together at formal occasions. That has changed in recent months and they are now regularly, if sparingly, spotted at functions in Britain and abroad.

On Saturday both were in Saltzburg, Austria, for the nuptials of their mutual friend Chiara Hunt, sister of Olivia Hunt who went to St Andrew’s University with them.

Kate was svelte in a knee-length dress and fitted jacket. The golden couple seemed happy to be photographed together and were thoroughly relaxed on one of their rare public outings together.

Singer James Blunt and TV presenter Ben Fogle, who is married to the bride’s other sister Marina, were also guests.

BBC pulls Diana documentary
After spending £200,000 ($350,000) on a new documentary about Diana, Princess of Wales, the BBC has decided to cancel it a year after the project began.

The film was presumably intended to update her biography in the light of the many new revelations arising out of the long and exhaustive inquest held by Lord Justice Scott Baker.

Both the BBC and Buckingham Palace denied that any pressure had been applied.

BBC produces exclusive Prince Charles 60th film
The BBC has been granted exclusive access to the Prince of Wales for a film marking his 60th birthday in November.

The event is being celebrated in style. Both Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy, girlfriends of Prince William and Prince Harry, have been invited to a party and ball at Buckingham Palace — the first time either has attended such an event.

We must hope the BBC is careful with its editing this time around. Another bad splice of intimate footage and it could lose its Royal franchise forever.

Prince Harry gets motorbike licence
It is being reported that Prince Harry has obtained a full motorbiking licence and intends following his brother William into the superbike league.

The Prince was shown messing about on an old Army bike in a recent film shot when he was deployed to Afghanistan last winter.

As yet he has not bought a machine, but has access to William’s bike, which he rarely uses now.

William’s daredevil antics on two wheels brought protests from his protection team who found it difficult to keep up with him. He finally agreed to give it up when worries about his safety went all the way up to the Prince of Wales.

Harry is said to be even more expert than his brother and much more daring. How long before he faces a similar injunction, we wonder?

Some Royal observers are claiming that there appears to be another “turf war” between the rival courts and press offices of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House. This is an old story tracing back to the time of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the rival court was St James’s Palace.

Now it centres on the inexperienced figure of Kate Middleton, who must wonder why so much spite and bitterness is coming her way, not only from teenagers with a crush on her boyfriend, but from Palace sources.

Today’s little local difficulty is a symptom of a debate going on among some Palace courtiers, including close friends of the Queen. To understand it, you have to know something about the ancient traditions of Royalty.

Not so very long ago, it was regarded as a step down in Royalness for one parent to lack a Royal pedigree, even if the other was a Monarch.

For example, Prince Philip’s parents were both Royal, but the Queen’s were a King and an Earl’s daughter (a commoner). Prince William has the same “diluting” factor in his parentage, deriving from Diana, another Earl’s daughter.

While that may not matter a fig these days, the Middletons represent an even further diminution in Royal connections, including a link to a northern coalmining family on Kate’s mother’s side.

Many of the companions and friends of the Queen are much grander than she is in their personal attitudes and opinions. Some are known to be seething that William should even consider such a match, especially if they have an eligible daughter or granddaughter waiting in the wings.

Some have spoken to the press — Richard Kay has put it on record that he has been approached by a “close friend of the Queen” with anti-Kate sentiments.

It would be disingenuous to imagine that the Royal Family have not been affected by this febrile atmosphere, and even had doubts of their own.

The fact that William has stuck with Kate throughout all this is a good measure of his character. He has poignant memories of the long, vicious breakup of his parent’s marriage, which would add to his cautious approach to all things matrimonial.

I’ve written before that I think his, and Kate’s, lives would have been easier had he made his intentions clearer some time ago. Prince Philip’s advice, “Marry the girl or let her go,” was wise counsel.

However, William has used actions rather than statements to reveal his hand. Every invitation to a major Royal event for Kate speaks louder than words. That some people refuse to see that is a reflection on their own pig-headedness — or point-blank opposition to the match.

Royal Anecdotes received a strong tip some months ago that plans were being made for an announcement towards the end of William’s military training. It seemed good timing then, as it does now.

Perhaps while the Prince was yomping across wintry Dartmoor with a 60lb pack on his back, he saw Kate’s exposed predicament as good training for her future role. If she could survive that, she can come through anything.

One thing’s for sure, the final decision will emerge from as complex a soup of opinion, precedent, prejudice and resentment as any young couple have ever endured. It will truly be the road least travelled.

It falls to us here on this Royalist website to give them both the benefit of the doubt.